Much of the news over the past day has come out of Paul Pierce's camp for kids. Sheed showed up for the camp and they had a lot of fun with the kids. Pierce and Sheed went one on one, with Pierce winning. Pierce also pledged free tee shirts for the kids if Sheed could hit a 3, losing that bet as Sheed was mobbed by the kids after his 3 went down.

Other things of note were the fact that Pierce said that this is his last NBA contract and he plans to retire a Celtic. But he does want to go to Italy or Greece and play a year or two after the NBA to give his family the experience of living in another country. He is still sounding the call for Sheed to come back in February in a similar role to PJ Brown's in 2008. Somehow I don't see that happening. If Sheed couldn't stay in shape through an entire season of playing last year, I really don't see him sitting out most of the year and coming back in shape. Besides, with Perk coming back in February, we won't need Sheed. If any player can come back from an ACL tear and play at a high level, I'll put my money on Perk to do it.
Another thing that caught my attention is Pierce's vow to use the Game 7 loss as motivation for this season. I can see all of the Celtics who suffered through that travesty to do the same. I imagine all those whistles that went against the Celtics and for the Lakers have to haunt him. They know now that they can't expect fair treatment from the refs or from the league and will have to work twice as hard to win.

The more I think about the 21-6 free throw differential in the 4th quarter of game 7 and this season's schedule the more I hate David Stern. Could he be any more obvious in his support of the Fakers? Back to back games are the toughest for a team in any season. You would think that the league would try to make them fairly even for every team since more of them makes it harder for a team to compete and fewer gives the team a distinct advantage. Guess which team has the fewest back to back games this season? The Fakers! They have just 15 back to back sets! I guess Herr Stern knows that the Fakers aren't good enough to win it on their own and so has to help them with his referees and by making the schedule in their favor. I hate Stern and I hate the Fakers. Even in the inferior conference, they still get the easy schedule. Hopefully the Celtics will be tougher because of having to fight for everything and the cream puff Fakers will be lulled by all the their preferential treatment.

Speaking of preferential treatment, it will be interesting to see how Herr Stern treats the 3 amEgos in Miami. LeJerk got very used to getting all the calls and I'm not sure he would know how to play if the game was called fairly. I mean, for a guy who's game consists of barreling into the lane at will, leaving bodies in his wake along the way, to average 1.6 fouls a game is pretty ridiculous. We know that Wade is pretty used to star treatment as well. So, now, do the refs suddenly give all 3 star treatment? That would result in big free throw disparities every game or their other players in foul trouble every game to even it out. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Going back to Pierce again, he had an interesting quote about KG that bodes well for this season.

"He has a different attitude,’’ said Pierce. “I think he’s more upbeat. Last year, it was just the grind of being hurt and the grind of thinking about getting back. I think now he’s more settled in and going back to a normal routine.
“He’s getting back to his comfort zone and working out and not having to worry about this. He should be ready from day one, and I expect great things from him.’’

Think about a motivated (if Pierce is motivated by the game 7 loss, think about how much it will motivate KG) and healthy KG. It brings a smile to my face. Pierce also said that he is working on his defense for this season and wants to be better defending the opposing teams' best players. With the depth up front and a better Rondo and supporting cast, this season should be a fun one.

In other news, LeBron's boo boo elbow is still not right according to his interview in GQ. Looks like he is setting up his excuses for not giving 100% already. Wonder what the other 2 amEgos will think about his quitting when the going gets rough this year, especially if Herr Stern decides to call his fouls this season to pay him back for the black eye his "decision" gave the NBA.

A new era is dawning in the NBA and it isn't necessarily a good one. With the hoopla over the 3 amEgos in Miami still swirling, we are now hearing rumblings of Carmelo Anthony taking his talents out of Denver to join forces with Dwight Howard or Amare and CP3 wanting out of New Orleans to join forces with a couple other stars. If this continues, there will be 3 or 4 teams out of the 30 that have clusters of stars and the rest of the NBA will not be competitive. The inmates are running the asylum and that's not a good thing. It's time for David Stern to step down.

Hey SMELTICS fans STOP complaining about the back to back sets the LAKERS have next year.. They had way more sets last year and LAKERS stillwon their TITLE ... So just worry about your SMELTICS , shut up & wait till the Season Begins ok!!!!